1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a design of a fastening structure, and more particularly, to a fastening structure for fastening an add-on card in a housing of an electronic device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With constant advancement and development of technology, electronic devices have become indispensable to modern people's daily lives. An electronic device (for example, a host computer or a server) is composed of plenty major components and parts, such as a disk drive, a power supply, and a motherboard, disposed inside the housing of the electronic device. The motherboard is equipped with various slots, for example, accelerated graphics port (AGP), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), and industrial standard architecture (ISA), into which a display card, a sound card, and a network interface card are inserted so as to enhance the functions of the electronic device.
FIG. 1 shows a three-dimensional view of an add-on card 11 disposed inside a housing 12 of an electronic device in a known manner. As shown in the figure, the add-on card 11 is inserted into a socket 14 on a motherboard 13 inside the housing 12 of the electronic device, whereas a supporting element 111 of the add-on card 11 is screwed on a frame 121 of the housing 12 of the electronic device using a tool, such that the add-on card 11 is secured in the housing 12 of the electronic device. However, the aforesaid method for installing the add-on card 11 in the housing 12 of the electronic device usually involves screwing/unscrewing plenty of screws 15 and using an auxiliary tool to do the assembly and disassembly work, thereby causing users much inconvenience.
In light of the aforesaid drawback of screwing/unscrewing, an add-on card fastening structure free of screwing/unscrewing is herein proposed. Referring to FIG. 2A, an add-on card fastening structure 2 free of screwing/unscrewing comprises a framework 21 and a fastener 22. The framework 21 is connected to a housing 4 of an electronic device. The fastener 22 is pivotally connected to two connecting plates 211 of the framework 21. The framework 21 is provided with a first confining portion 212 and a second confining portion 213. The first confining portion 212 comprises two protruding sheets 2121. The second confining portion 213 comprises two protruding sheets 2131. The first confining portion 212 and the second confining portion 213 are respectively provided with guiding grooves 2122, 2132 which are positioned correspondingly. The fastener 22 is equipped with a plurality of fastening grooves 222 which are formed by a plurality of L-shaped protruding plates 221. The fastening grooves 222 positionally correspond to the guiding grooves 2122 of the first confining portion 212 and the guiding grooves 2132 of the second confining portion 213. Referring to FIG. 2B, to install an add-on card 23 in the housing 4 of the electronic device, a user should move the add-on card 23 along the guiding grooves 2122, 2132 of the first and second confining portions 212, 213 of the framework 21, and then the user should insert the add-on card 23 into a socket 25 on a motherboard 24 in the housing 4 of the electronic device, and finally turn the fastener 22 in the direction of the arrow A, such that a top 231 of the add-on card 23 is fastened on the fastening grooves 222 of the fastener 22, and, at that point, the fastening of the add-on card 23 in position is completed. Both the guiding grooves 2122, 2132 of the framework 21 serve to hold the add-on card 23, whereas the fastening grooves 222 of the fastener 22 serve to position the add-on card 23, such that the add-on card 23 would not be loosened under the vibration of the housing 4 of the electronic device. Since the fastening structure 2 comprises the framework 21 having a holding function and the fastener 22 having a positioning function, the framework 21 and the fastener 22 have to be separately manufactured and then be assembled; in so doing, the manufacturing process is complex. Furthermore, since the framework 21 is connected to the housing 4 of the electronic device and made of a metallic material, the manufacturing cost is high.
Therefore, the problem to be solved here is to overcome the drawbacks of the aforesaid prior art.